THE National AIDS Council (NAC) and Zimbabwe National Network of People Living with HIV’s (ZNNP+) programs have not been spared by the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic.
By Patricia Mashiri
Speaking during a virtual meeting on the impact of COVID-19 on HIV programming Dr Bernard Madzima, Chief Executive Officer NAC said the COVID-19 pandemic brought negative affected HIV and AIDS programs in a negative way.
COVID-19 was associated with the lockdowns, there was lots of uncertainty and misinformation that really impacted on programming as most HIV programs happen either at a health facility or communities so the restricted movement meant that most of our clients could not access services. They could not go to get their medications. In the southern part of the country, we have clients who get their supplies through amalaicha and it was all disrupted.
“We still have to measure the impact of what happened in the beginning of last year. But through continued engagement with relevant sectors of Ministries of the government, we were able to continue accessing drugs in hospitals and sensitizing health workers because it was a scary time but now people have learnt to live with the disease, the situation has improved,” said Dr Madzima.
He added programs such as male circumcision and other outreach initiatives have suffered.
“On global level it was the global supply chain where drugs and equipment suffered. This are the things we need to address to make sure that the HIV program does not regress in the COVID-19.”
Zimbabwe has made strides in terms of procuring drugs, hospitalization and curbing the spread of new HIV/AIDS infections in the country.
Meanwhile, Tonderi Mwareka, ZNNP+ Programme Officer said the pandemic made realize that there was need to adjust and adopt new ways of doing business.
“The issue of forced disclosure of HIV status because usually they could not have exemption letter to travel to health facilities was a major challenge.
“Another major challenge was the access itself of services. Some staff members did not have enough PPEs, there were job actions which took place and some health facilities closed down. The major concern was if people do not adhere to treatment, we may end up reversing the gains that we have achieved to date,” Mwareka said.
